Cody and Asrael

Cody had heard things about the North side of Omaha, but a dare was a dare, and he could make it from Dodge to Lake without getting hurt. He was sure of it. He wouldn’t tell the others how he was sure, but he was, and when he showed up at school the next day with proof of his victory, they would have to stop harassing him in the locker room and giving him swirlies.

He pushed his glasses higher on his nose, tucked his hands into his jacket pockets, and started walking.

He was just passing Burt Street when he sensed it, two people on his tail. He did just like in the movies and paused to check his reflection in a shop window, and he saw them, two teenagers dressed in heavy parkas, beanies pulled low over their brows. In retrospect, Cody probably shouldn’t have been wearing his school uniform, because he looked decidedly out of place and an obvious target to boot, but he wasn’t afraid. Not yet, anyway.

He could still see shadows crawling along the edges of the pavement, places where people had died. A little girl in the crossfire of a gang shoot. An old man mowed down by a drunk driver. A middle-aged woman who had a heart attack for no reason. These streets were riddled with death, no better or worse than the streets where Cody lived out west, but there was more energy here.

Just when Cody sensed the two boys getting too close, he knelt and made like he was tying his shoelaces. He sketched a few letters in Hebrew in the snow, spat on his fingertips for life-ink. Any moment now, the boys would be upon them.

Just in time to see a shadow clad in red unfurl its wings and wield its flaming sword.

“Don’t you think this is a bit overdone, Nicodemus?” Asrael asked.

“You don’t have to take their souls,” Cody said. “Just keep them off my back until I get what I need.”

“You know, Seraph-voiced are rare and precious souls. Most don’t use their gift for such petty pursuits.” Asrael swung the sword a few times anyway, and the two thugs scattered.

No one else on the street saw what they saw.

“Yes, well, you refuse to stop the bullies at school, so I’m taking matters into my own hands,” Cody said matter-of-factly. He pushed his glasses up his nose and watched his would-be attackers beat a hasty retreat.

“They’ll be back, possibly with more friends,” Asrael said.

Cody nodded. “I know. Until then, I’ll just keep walking.”

Asrael sighed and melted into the shadows, but not without a faint, “I’ll be here if you need me.”

(459 words)